39446 - UWE-3

UWE-3 (Universitat Wurzburg Experimentalsatellit 3) is the third picosatellite built by the Julius-Maximilians-Universitat in Wurzburg. It was successfully launched in the morning (GMT) of November 21st from a Russian Dnepr rocket from Yasni, Kazakhstan.

The main task of UWE-3 is to test an efficient attitude control system for picosatellites. UWE-3 has the dimensions of a cube 10 cm on a side, and weights only 1 kg, identical to its predecessor UWE-2. Its orbit is about 700 km high, making it orbit the Earth 14 times a day. The mission lifetime is estimated to be three months.

The first UWE satellite was launched in 2005 and was the first german picosatellite. There are five more UWE satellites planned through 2017 to test orbit control and formation flight.

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2013-11-21
Launch Vehicle: Dnepr
Launch Site: Yasni, Russia
Mass: 1.0 kg